Tuesday, October 12, 1999 Published at 12:42 GMT 13:42 UKEntertainmentChips are down for Planet HollywoodBruce Willis and Demi Moore: Planet Hollywood backersPlanet Hollywood is closing nine of its 32 restaurants in the US as the struggling celebrity-backed chain heads for bankruptcy.

The nine sites given the chop include restaurants in Chicago, Hawaii, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Phoenix.

The Orlando-based company is also planning to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy petitions on Tuesday as the first step of a previously-announced debt restructuring plan.

The planned bankruptcy is the latest setback for Planet Hollywood, which has nearly 80 restaurants worldwide.

Chairman and chief executive Robert Earl said his company still enjoys the support of the
celebrities.

"We believe our formula still works and we are still
enjoying the support of Hollywood," he said.

Planet Hollywood founder Robert Earl with Sylvester Stallone

"As I speak to you at
this moment, Bruce Willis is holding court in the
middle of our New York restaurant which is very supportive and
gratifying to us."

As part of the reorganisation, the company's two largest
shareholders and a trust for Earl's children have agreed to provide
a $30m (£18.75m) cash injection to help keep the chain going.

He said the main burden now for the company is to revive consumer confidence in the restaurant.

"The
product inside the restaurant is excellent and customer
reaction is highly favourable, but since the announcement a few
weeks ago we we lost some business due to a confusion in
marketplace that we are actually closed.

"This is the first step in revival of our chain because the
non-profitable units have been cut off."

Fashion Cafe: Difficult times for Naomi's venture

The Planet Hollywood concept has spawned a number of celebrity-backed imitators, but they have been suffering too.

The Fashion Cafe, launched in 1995 by supermodels Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer and Elle Macpherson, called in the receivers last year after a slump in custom.